DOCUMENT
President Musharraf Speech to
the People of Pakistan
SEPTEMBER19, 2001My dear countrymen, Asslam-o-Alaikum:
The situation confronting the nation today and the international crisis have impelled
me to take the nation into confidence. First of all, I would like to express heartfelt
sympathies to the United States for the thousands of valuable lives lost in the United
States due to horrendous acts of terrorism. We are all the more grieved because in this
incident people from about 45 countries from all over the world lost their lives. People
of all ages old, children, women and people from all and every religion lost their lives.
Many Pakistanis also lost their lives. These people were capable Pakistanis who had
gone to improve their lives.
On this loss of lives I express my sympathies with those families. I pray to Allah
to rest their souls in peace. This act of terrorism has raised a wave of deep grief, anger
and retaliation in the United States. Their first target from day one is Osama bin
Laden’s movement Al-Qaeda, about which they say that it is their first target. The sec-
ond target are Taliban and that is because Taliban have given refuge to Osama and
his network. This has been their demand for many years. They have been demanding
their extradition and presentation before the international court of justice. Taliban have
been rejecting this.
The third target is a long war against terrorism at the international level. The
thing to ponder is that in these three targets nobody is talking about war against
Islam or the people of Afghanistan. Pakistan is being asked to support this campaign.
What is this support? Generally speaking, these are three important things in which
America is asking for our help. First is intelligence and information exchange, second
support is the use of our airspace and the third is that they are asking for logistic
support from us.
I would like to tell you now that they do not have any operational plan right now.
Therefore we do not have any details on this count but we know that whatever are
the United States’ intentions they have the support of the UN Security Council and
the General Assembly in the form of a resolution. This is a resolution for war against
terrorism and this is a resolution for punishing those people who support terrorism.
Islamic countries have supported this resolution. This is the situation as it prevailed
in the outside world.
Now I would like to inform you about the internal situation. Pakistan is facing a
very critical situation and I believe that after 1971, this is the most critical period. The
decision we take today can have far-reaching and wide-ranging consequences. The cri-
sis is formidable and unprecedented. If we take wrong decisions in this crisis, it can
lead to worst consequences. On the other hand, if we take right decisions, its results
will be good. The negative consequences can endanger Pakistan’s integrity and soli-
darity. Our critical concerns, our important concerns can come under threat. When I
602 AFGHANISTAN